Patrick Bateman is a young, wealthy investment banking executive working at his fathers firm on Wall Street. But Bateman's role as a Wall Street banker is not the most evil quality about him. That would be the fact that he is a serial killer whose lust for blood is rapidly spiralling out of control. Behind his self absorbed air of bourgeois respectability is a twisted mind and a growing body count which includes homeless people, co-workers, sex trade workers, and others.
Hot on his heals is Detective Donald Kimball, a PI who has been hired to investigate the disappearance of one of Bateman's victims. But Bateman's own mask of sanity is quickly evaporating. He is being overtaken increasingly by intense and violent misanthropic hatred of human kind, and time is running out for anyone who may find themselves in his path.
American Psycho is based on the novel by the same name written in 1991 by Bret Easton Ellis. The books graphic depiction of violence against women attracted the protest of women's organizations and generated substantial protest
Thought I am not in a position to comment on the book as I have not read it, the films main character, Bateman, is undoubtedly a misogynist character. While his hatred is seemingly aimed at all of humanity, his violence is targeted primarily at women, and secondarily at males who he sees as being competition to his masculinity. Additionally, he is an elitist who clearly feels that he is special and entitled, while others around him are lesser, incompetent, even disgusting.
But while the films overall tone is cynical and even tongue in cheek, the murders themselves are certainly not glorified or beautified and Bateman is not depicted as a hero, but rather as the depraved lunatic that he clearly is. He and his vapid work associates muse about their detest for women who they consider to be mere sex objects, a belief that Bateman lives out in having sex with, and then murdering, several women. But what message is the film trying to purvey on these topics? It's never made clear.
Bateman's life is a monotonous and dull one driven by base materialism, greed, and self gratification at the expense of others. In an age when protesters in the thousands are occupying parks, streets, buildings, and squares to protest that very greed and materialism on the part of the 1% as personified by Bateman, one can find a social commentary of another type in the film as well; one about greed and its ability to drive people to unspeakable acts in pursuit of their personal fulfilment. Wall Street executives might not be running around chopping up innocent victims in their apartments, but the human cost of their actions is realistically much higher even than that of Bateman's evil deeds. But I digress.
Is American Psycho scary? Not especially? Suspenseful? At times. Disturbing? Controversial? Sure. One thing is for sure, American Psycho has established itself as a cult film and won't be disappearing in to obscurity any time soon. It was also followed by a sequel, American Psycho 2, although those involved in the first film have distanced themselves from it and have rejected its legitimacy as a sequel.
2.5 chainsaws out of 5
Contains violence/gore, language, nudity/sexuality.
